Protective pants have been known and used for decades. Specifically, they have been developed to primarily protect an individual's midsection, the area between the individual's knees and chest, during participation in contact sports, such as hockey. Such protective pants have been constructed in both a single integrated pant version and two, or more, piece versions having at least an inner girdle and outer pant shell. As technology has improved, so has the design of such protective pants. However, these prior protective pants have had some deficiencies due to their construction.
Because of the greatly increased size, strength and speed of the wearers of these types of protective pants, the recent design emphasis of such protective equipment have focused not only on the quality and quantity of protection, but also on flexibility and fit. Prior art protective pants, while perhaps providing an adequate level of protection to the wearer, often times, are generally not ergonomically friendly and generally do not provide the wearer a proper fit that provides adequate flexibility.
For example, prior art protective pants often restrict the movement of the wearer, such as, for example, a hockey player taking a stride. Alternatively, non-restricting prior art protective pants did not substantially restrict the movement of the wearer, but, often would expose and leave unprotected a portion of the wearer's body that should have been protected. For example, a wearer of such prior art pants bending at the waist would often expose his/her back or sides to injury.
With respect to hockey, it is quite common for a hockey player to be "checked" into the "boards" exposing his/her hips to substantial impact. While prior protective pants may afford some protection to the hip area, they were not specifically designed to provide maximum protection against such an impact, nor were the pants otherwise ergonomically efficient.
In summary, prior art protective pants were, for the most part, unable to provide adequate protection to the wearer or provide the desired flexibility of movement of the wearer.